Virtual reality applications, or virtual reality apps for short, are quickly making their way into to the mainstream. From mobile applications to web apps, virtual reality will soon become a reality.
What is a Virtual Reality App?
To start with, an app is piece of software designed to fulfil a specific set of needs. With that, a virtual reality app is just an app which uses the power of virtual reality to reach its goals.
It is, however, more in-depth than that. Not only are there many different types of virtual reality apps, such as games and healthcare solutions, there are also many different target platforms.
As an example, you can find many virtual reality apps on the following platforms:
How Do They Work?
In all honesty, virtual reality as we often imagine it is not in full fruition in the consumer market just yet. Unfortunately, this may be the case for some time but we have many alternatives and year upon year we get closer and closer to the real thing.
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Augmented Reality
This involves literally augmenting reality with virtual information. An augmented reality app will typically annotate live video with information in various formats. One novel example is a table top racing game in which you actually race on your table.
Read more about Augmented Reality here.
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Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are played over the internet using a Mac or PC. Such applications open up a sandbox, allowing you to manipulate the world around you and can often feature their own currencies, with exchange rates to boot. There is even a booming virtual real estate market on Second Life.
Read more about Virtual Worlds here.
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Kinect
This recent release by Microsoft probably offers one of the most in-depth virtual reality experiences around. The Kinect, at its core, is a motion sensor for the Xbox 360. Combining this with an expansive virtual world and goggles, you can become as immersed as you could possibly get.